Kansas Speedway is slowly cementing itself as one of the highlights on the NASCAR schedule, thanks in large part to races like the Heart of Health Care 200. 

The Truck Series took full advantage of Kansas’ excellence right off the bat with a hectic restart. While Corey Heim overtook pole-sitter Jake Garcia, the second row of the field was split four wide by Ty Majeski.

Majeski’s contact with Carson Hocevar resulted in a tire rub which would ruin his race before it even began. The chaos claimed another victim, Dawson Sutton, whose spin on lap four brought out the first caution of the race.

After the immediate insanity, stage one looked like much of the Truck Series season has, with someone hopelessly chasing down Heim’s #11. While Heim dominated the first stage, Hocevar awakened his talent. 

Before the second caution of the day, Hocevar gained 11 spots in seven laps. He continued to pick off trucks one by one and ultimately moved from 16th to fourth in stage one.

Fending off Rajah Carauth, Heim cruised to his sixth stage win of the season, the most of any driver in the series. 

At the start of stage two, Hocevar dove down on the inside to finally crack the top three, but he wasn’t done. With his eyes set on the lead, Hocevar quickly reeled in Chandler Smith, taking second place the next lap.

The Spire #7 appeared in Heim’s mirror with haste, but a slip up from the charging Cup Series regular allowed the young Toyota star to get away. However, one of Kansas Speedway’s new traits showed itself, with Cody Dennison spinning after his left rear tire went flat.

The caution and ensuing pit stops proved to be damming for Heim. As his crew was finishing changing his tires, they hit a snag, which cost him over 10 spots and placed him deep in the field.

Hocevar had no such issue and with his biggest challenger stuck in traffic, he should have cruised to an easy stage two win. That wasn’t the case, as Grant Enfinger and Layne Riggs made it difficult on Hocevar, battling all the way to the end. 

Still, Hocevar claimed the stage two victory and it’s lead that he wouldn’t relinquish for 37 laps. The Enfinger and Riggs duo continued to chase him down, but the more they battled for second place, the easier it was for Hocevar to escape.

On lap 96, the field was gearing up for their final green flag pit stops. However, as many of the leaders made their stops, Frankie Muniz spun himself through the grass and brought out the caution, shuffling the field and giving Hocevar the lead.

After a rough three races, Stewart Friesen helped push Hocevar to the lead over Hendrick Motorsports Cup driver William Byron. Friesen finished the race sixth, his best finish since Martinsville.

The race would only stay green for three laps after spins from Connor Mosack and Bayley Curry racked up the field yet again. Hocevar maintained the lead throughout the constant restarts and was able to extend his lead to as much as 1.5 seconds over Riggs and Byron.

As the laps wound down, Hocevar was cruising out front, but Riggs was hard at work behind him. Riding a Kyle Larson-esque line against the wall, Riggs ran down Hocevar and caught him with two laps to go.

Riggs’ high-line placed him right on the bumper of Hocevar with just a lap to go. Heading into turn one, Riggs sent his truck down low, hoping to clear Hocevar with a slide job.

As Riggs slid up, one thing was clear: he wasn’t and the two made contact nearly spinning. A vulture-like Bryon watched as the two gathered what they had left down the back straightaway.

Hocevar’s recovery was just a little bit smoother allowing him to escape another Riggs’ dive-bomb and he crossed the start-finish line barely ahead of the Truck Series’ rising star.

After claiming the pole at Texas in the Cup Series, Hocevar made a brutal mistake which caused him to finish 24th. The win, fifth of his Truck Series career, will go a long way in helping Hocevar put the mistake behind him and continue a strong season in Cup.

Riggs is still searching for his first win of the season, but this second place is his best finish since he followed Larson’s bumper to a silver at Homestead. 

Heim recovered from a restart violation penalty late to still somehow finish fourth, with Byron ahead of him in third. Heim will make his Cup Series debut at Kansas tomorrow for 23XI Racing.

The Truck Series will return, as they will for every weekend in the month of May, for the Window World 250 at North Wilkesboro. The green flag flies next Saturday at 10:30 a.m. PST.